Young consumer's attitude toward local versus foreign luxury brands

This paper investigates the young consumer's attitudes toward local versus foreign brands of fashion products. A 4 by 4 fixed factor framework is utilized. This includes four fashion product categories (e.g., Sunglasses, Jeans, Shoes and Perfume) and four COO cues. The four chosen COO were Italy, Australia, South Korea and China. Data (n = 200) were collected using a convenient sample of undergraduate business students in a large university situated in Australia. The findings showed that young (non)status consumption revealed no significant difference in product quality and brand image evaluation for Australian and Italian branded products, however, luxury fashion products branded in Korea and China are not favored. Furthermore, the study suggests that low and high country image as well as the country-related product image are critical elements to influencing the product-country congruity between consumers and their perceptions of luxury fashion products. The findings from this study hold important implications and guidelines for luxury brands and fashion houses that wish to enter an international market to better understand the consumer behavior.